Read: Philippians 3:12-21
Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior. (v. 20)
I recently read an interview with a retired US ambassador. As an ambassador, he described himself as the personal representative of the US president. He added, “An embassy is a miniature version of the federal government in a foreign country.” Ambassadors live with this tension: they invest in people and places that are not their own; and they do so in the service of their true home.
Paul describes followers of Jesus as “ambassadors for Christ” (2 Cor. 5:20). In Philippians 3, Paul adds that all Christians are citizens of heaven (v. 20). We live on earth. We have family, friends, and neighbors who identify primarily as citizens of this world, but we are called to love and serve people who do not yet know our King. And we do so as citizens representing the interests of heaven.
It’s easy to forget where we belong and whom we represent. This is why Paul regularly contrasts the ways of this world and the ways of heaven. The Christian life is lived at the intersection of heaven and earth—immersed in the language and culture of this world so that we can influence it for heaven. Our lives and our homes and especially our gatherings as the church should be embassies in which unbelieving acquaintances experience the ways of heaven. Like Paul, we “press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:14).
As you pray, ask Jesus to keep you connected to your true home.
Ben Van Arragon is an ordained minister in the Christian Reformed Church in North America. After twenty years of congregational ministry, he now serves his denomination as a pastor wellbeing consultant in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
